


Maybe For The Best

by LadyHikariofDarkness



Series: Genderbent RWBY Tales [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Fake Transcripts, Fem!Jaune, Friendship, Hiding in Plain Sight, One Shot unless requests for more, genderbent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:58:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7354381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyHikariofDarkness/pseuds/LadyHikariofDarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joanna Arc always wanted to prove herself. To her parents. To her lineage. To the world. She chances her luck by faking her transcripts and disguising as a boy to train at Beacon. She wants to be worthy. She wants to be strong. She doesn't want to be the damsel in distress anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe For The Best

**Author's Note:**

> Line breaks indicate a time skip (I'd say scene change, but time skip is a more accurate description). Keep that in mind when reading.
> 
> ~LadyHikari

She stared at the paper before her in horror as she processed what she was about to endure. She looked at her other friends for support, but they gave her helpless looks. Jackie put a hand on her shoulder in what should’ve been support, but was more like a death sentence.

“Joany, it's more believable if you go as a guy. You wanted the chance to do what you couldn't, don't let it fall short before it starts.” She tried to reassure the blonde, “You wanted this more than any of us and we're rootin’ for ya. Go kill some Grimm for us, will ya?”

“Bu-bu-but, I look nothing like a guy! I'll be caught an-and expelled and p-put in jail for lying!” Joanna stuttered, her idea of what would happen when she would get caught growing darker, “I-I'll be exec-c-cuted and you'll all be punished f-for helping me!”

Henry gave an airy laugh in response, “Don't worry so much, Joany, we have time to make you a passable guy.”

The kid who had been setting up her transcripts nodded in response to her male friend, “Obviously I wouldn't send you out like that, we have time before turn-in deadlines to make you look the part of Jaune.”

Henry gave the kid a thumbs up, “See? We got this on lock, Jo!”

“I-if you guys are confident..” She timidly smiled at her friends, “I-I'll do it! I'm ready!”

* * *

She wasn't ready for this! She wasn't ready! Joanna stared out at the sea of classmates in horror. The weapons they had looked bigger than she was tall! Her friends had succeeded in making her look like a boy with binding and baggy clothes. They had done wonders to her silky long hair to turn it into a messy boy look, her clothes helping by hiding the more obvious clues. Henry gave her a pitying look as she froze on the spot. Jackie was tearing up, but for all different reasons.

“My baby child is going to beacon! Henry, can you believe it!” She cried, nearly strangling Joanna in a hug.

Joanna pushed at her friend desperately to let go, “Please stop it! You're embarrassing me, Jackie!”

Henry turned a blind eye when Joanna gave him a desperate look to save her. He chuckled as he heard the telltale sounds of lost oxygen, but relented and tapped Jackie’s shoulder. She gave him a questioning look before letting Joanna go in hurry as he gestured to the suffocating girl. Joanna took a much needed breath afterwards and stretched out with a shy smile.

“This is goodbye for now, isn't it?” She asked.

“Yeah it is, Joany.” Henry replied fondly, “Don't forget your voice out there. Go get ‘em”

She started towards the Bullhead with the crowd of kids, waving back to her friends before getting on the ship.

* * *

Joanna panicked. She couldn't help it, suddenly being away from any sort of protect made her feel sick, the rocking of the ship not helping her homesickness. She ended up vomiting on the floor in the middle of the ride, running and hiding in a secluded area for the rest as not to embarrass herself again.

The ground was a godsend as she raced off of the bullhead to the nearest trash can. Her panicked mind didn't help the rising contents of her stomach. The stress of this secret was already hitting her badly and she hadn't even started class! She curled up on a bench and buried her face in her knees, tears pricking her eyes.

She watched the encounter between the three girls in slight surprise, she didn't ever realize someone could explode. She couldn't hear them but she knew it probably wouldn't help getting involved in that. She did, however, approach the source of said explosion and offered a hand.

“Need a hand?” She asked, her voice pitched down.

* * *

“So Jaune, what's your weapon?” The girl, Ruby, asked.

“I...I have a sword. A-and this shield, it collapses and...makes it easier to carry…” She explained, her confidence dwindling at Ruby’s attempt at looking awed.

“Wouldn't it weigh the same though?”

And her confusion, couldn't forget that.

“Yeah, it does…”Joanna sighed in defeat.

* * *

Joanna had regretted a few choices in life. She had never dated for one and had no sort of clue in how it worked. She only had Henry to go off of and what he had told her during the preparations. Learning and applying, she had learned, were two different things. She had tried to flirt with the white haired girl in the locker room with Henry's advice in mind, but soon it had ended with her pinned to a wall by a spear. It was not pleasant. The whitette was not interested in confidence, even she could see that, but Henry had told her to flirt to make it seem like she was just some guy and she wanted to make sure the work put into this didn't go to waste.

* * *

Her face paled at the sight of the huge drop at the testing site. She was going to die. She would be launched at high speeds and die. Ozpin had confirmed that much for her with a tone of an annoyed parent. She tried to ask another question, but was interrupted by the force of her body being violently launched into the air.

She fell for about a solid thirty seconds before a red blur whizzed at her. It caught her jacket and hung her from a tree, her back aching from the sudden impact. She couldn't see any source of what she knew now to be a spear of sorts, but nonetheless yelled out a thank you into the expansive forest.

Joanna was left dangling from this tree for a solid ten minutes before anyone came by. Though the waiting didn't compare to Miss. Stuck-up whitette leaving her without letting her down. She didn't feel to bad that she voided the rules because she had a sneaking suspicious the white haired girl did the same thing to Ruby before she found Joanna herself, judging by Ruby’s happy exclamation that echoed a couple feet away. She slacked in defeat and wished she could get down from here, but she didn't have the weight to free the spear that attached her to the tree. She didn't want to lose the thing hiding her gender either, that would be a mess, so she let herself hang in hopes that she would be freed.

She blushed self consciously when Pyrrha came up and stared at her, glancing up at the spear in realization.

“Is there still room on team Jaune?” Pyrrha asked cockily, a hand on her hip.

“Ha ha, very funny.” She responded sarcastically, crossing her arms in annoyance, but ultimately gave her new partner a smile.

* * *

She felt ready to collapse standing in the post- battle remnants (heh) of the ruins where the relics were. She glanced over at her fellow classmates and saw similar problems in Ren and Weiss. Fortunately for Joanna, Pyrrha lent her a shoulder so she could walk. She could almost laugh or cry at how intense that fight had been. She had seen Ruby finish of that Grimm and had she been in a right state of mind, she would've freaked out, but adrenaline and the atmosphere of the preceding fight made so that was just a passing thought of ‘Oh, she just decapitated a giant bird. Cool.’.

They watch the cloaked girl on top of the cliff look down at them. None were surprised when she jump and pulled off a perfect landing in front of them. Weiss scoffed, muttering something she could've sworn was ‘Showoff.’, but Joanna was honestly too tired to deal with people. The group of eight started off back where they came from to bring the respective relics they grabbed and to finally get a break from the constant endurance test on their body.

* * *

Joanna was curious about this process of teaming that the headmaster had set up. It was whichever pairs had the same chess piece relic were on the same team. Since she had came in after the three other pairs she was with had picked theirs, she had no idea who had the golden castle-shaped piece her and Pyrrha had picked.

“Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie.” Ozpin’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

She walked up to the stage with a glance at the other three joining her. They stood in order they were called in as Ozpin continued in his team placement assembly.

“You four will now be known as team JNPR. Your leader will be Jaune Arc.”

She couldn't help the wide-eyed disbelieving stare she sent Ozpin. If he had seen any of what she did in the forest, he should know her abilities were below abysmal. She thought she saw a knowing smile on his face as he turned back to the other students.

“I know you will lead us well _Jaune_.”

She hoped the emphasis meant nothing in particular.

* * *

She stood on the roof in thought. It had been some time since her, no, _their_ team had been formed and she still hadn't told them to god awful truth about herself. It hurt, knowing something that could change everything in an instant. As if hearing the sorrow of Joanna’s thoughts, a voice called behind her.

“Jaune? Are you alright?” It was Pyrrha.

She loathed her inability to just tell them the truth. It stung hearing that name for so long and she longed to hear her actual name for once. Tears burned beneath her eyelids as she silently shook her head in response to Pyrrha.

Footsteps sounded behind her as she saw Pyrrha sit down next to her out of the corner of her eye.

“It's just…” She sighed, “I'm so weak. I want to prove myself, but how can I when I can barely hold my own shield.”

“But that's why we're here Jaune.” Yet another blow to her crippling self-esteem, “We came to learn how to be good hunters and huntresses. We weren't magically able to weird weapons when we were born. We had to learn.”

“You've seen me Pyrrha! I'm a straggler in classes and combat. I can barely get anything right, let alone defeat someone in a sparring match!” She cried.

“But you made it into Beacon, didn't you?” Yet another emotional restraint breaking, “No matter how well you're doing, you still made it in in the first place, so you can improve over time.”

“You're wrong.” Tears brushed her cheeks as Joanna looked at the ground.

“But you made it in Jaune-” A hand touched her shoulder, but she shrugged it off angrily.

“No I didn't!” She yelled, all the self-loathing and hatred consent rating into the look she sent Pyrrha, “I lied! I faked my transcripts and lied! I never went to some hunter school, I've never trained! But it hurt Pyrrha, I wanted to do something with my life, wanted to be important for once.”

“Jaune, I-” Joanna quickly stood up and backs out of Pyrrha’s touch.

“And I'm not Jaune, Pyrrha! I'm not a strong guy you'd see out there, I'm just some weak girl way in over her head. Just another daughter to the eight my parents already had, the mistake!” She choked out, her vision completely obscured by tears as she continued to step back.

“But I don't care about that!” Pyrrha yelled back, “You’ll always be my friend and I want to help you!”

“You think I need help?” She whispered, “Why did I think it would go any differently. I'm just the damsel in dis-”

The next step was empty air and her body pulled backwards over the edge. She heard Pyrrha’s scream over her own as she fell. She could almost make out the bright red over the edge through her blurred vision. She found it almost funny how well timed it was, closing her eyes as she accepted the eventual demise.

She never hit the ground.

A black energy surrounded her armor and weapons as she slowly came back up to the roof. She was almost confused as to what had happened when she saw the same energy surrounding Pyrrha’s hands. She was dropped when she was next to Pyrrha. Her heart was thudding rapidly in her chest and she couldn't stop shaking. She didn't move when Pyrrha hugged her, her mind still replaying what happened.

“I fell.”she murmured, “I almost died. I almost fell and died.”

She felt Pyrrha stiffen next to her, “But you didn't, I made sure of that.”

Tears were coming back, harder than before, as she returned Pyrrha’s hug and sobbed. She hung on to her friend tightly, Pyrrha's grip just as tight, as she let out her fear and relief.

* * *

“Joanna. Joanna Arc.” Joanna suddenly said.

“Hm?” Pyrrha turned to her in question.

“My name. My actual name. Before all this started.” Joanna explained.

“Well Joanna, you have a lovely name.” Pyrrha replied warmly.

“Thanks Pyrrha…” She trailed off, “I want to tell Ozpin.”

“Bu-but you could be expelled from Beacon!” Pyrrha exclaimed.

“It's just a hunch on something I may have imagined, but I think he already knows.” She let out an airy chuckle, followed by a yawn, “I won't do it tonight, I'll wait. We need to get back to bed anyway.”

“Tell me when you're planning to do it, I want to be with you.” Pyrrha requested and when Joanna turned to look at her, her eyes glinted with determination.

“I will, promise.”

* * *

She fidgeted in worried anticipation when she was called down to see the headmaster. She hadn't requested to see him and shot Pyrrha an equally confused look when she caught the redheads eye. She tried not to seem like she was nervous as she made her way down to his office, her eyes glued to the floor. It had been a week since the roof incident and she hadn't found a good time to work up the nerve to see him.

She took the elevator up to his office and stepped into it when it came down. The ride was really only about 30 seconds, but to Joanna, it felt like an eternity. It didn't help that the only sounds made were whirling of the elevator engine. She was practically a nervous wreck by the time the elevator reached Ozpin’s office.

She stepped in the room silently, tugging on her fingers absentmindedly. She felt the weighted stare of the silver haired man on her, studying her.

“Hello. Please come in.” The Headmaster greeted.

“Why did you call me?” Joanna asked quietly, hesitantly stepping further into the room.

“I'd like to see myself as a smart man. I became headmaster to one of the biggest academies in Vale.” Worry gathered slowly in her chest as he continued his speech, “I acknowledge my students and like think that I actively help them in their pursuits. Did you know I met and allowed Miss.Rose admittance into my academy from the potential I saw in her the night I met her?”

“No sir, Ruby never mentioned how she got in. She did seem to feel guilty about being here early.” She replied, her eyes glued to the floor.

“At any rate, while your transcripts do affect your chances of admittance here at Beacon, I ultimately choose the students here. Do you understand?” He explained slowly.

“Yes sir, I understand.” Came her small answer.

“So, Miss. Arc, do not think of me as a blind and foolish man to the plights of my students.” He warned.

Wait.

Huh?

“Y-you know I'm a girl?” Joanna stuttered, finally meeting Ozpin's gaze in a surprised state.

“I know what happens in my own school. I wouldn't advise any more escapades on the roof of the dorms, however.” He chided lightly, “You show great potential, Joanna. I saw it first hand when Miss.Nikos unlocked your aura during the placement exam.”

“Why didn't you call me out if you knew?” Joanna asked, still shocked by the revelation.

“I'm not a cruel man, Miss.Arc. I wanted to see what you could do to prove you could survive at Beacon and I will say I'm pleased with what I've seen.”

“But I've been failing in both my academic and combat classes! I'm barely above the talents of a rock!” She exclaimed, her comparison drawing a smile from the older man.

“While you may be struggling with your classes, you've show capable leader skills in directing your comrades in combat and have tried to improve in your ‘talents lower than a rock’ as you put it.” He chuckled slightly, “You've proven to me that you are able to be a leader your team needs, even if it's not for combat or academics.”

“So you won't expel me?” She asked hopefully.

“No, Miss.Arc, I never had plans to. You have a team now, don't you?” He smiled at her, “Why don't you go back to them now.”

Joanna nodded, turning to head back to the elevator.

“And Miss.Arc?” Joanna turned back to Ozpin questioningly, “You would do well to accept Miss.Nikos’ help, she only wanted to help you improve.”

Joanna smiled to herself, “Yeah, I know.”

* * *

Joanna giggled at the flabbergasted expressions her friends held and hear some laughs from Phyrra as well. She never thought something she imagined to be nerve wracking and scary to turn out this hilarious. Her favorite reaction was Nora, the ever insane teammate of hers, who just looked at her body in disbelief and looked back into Joanna's eyes to ask if she was messing with her. She felt a tug on her t-shirt and found herself eye-to-eye with Ruby.

“Why didn't you tell us.” The silver eyed girl growled at her, a far cry from the optimism her friend was known for, “And why does Pyhrra know.”

“First, I didn't want to risk people knowing because I thought I would be expelled.” Joanna explained, using her actual voice, “Second, Pyhrra found out on accident when I had an emotional breakdown and almost fell off the dorm roof. She only found out a week ago.”

The grip slackened, but was still there, “I still don't like it.”

“Maybe it was for the best.” Pyhrra interjected, “If Joanna hadn't done what she did to get in Beacon, we wouldn't have met her. Or become friends.”

“Yeah, I guess so…” The hand released her and Ruby stepped back.

“Why did you flirt with me then?!” Weiss yelled suddenly, her face red from either embarrassment or rage, maybe even both.

“Oh yeah! That was advice from one of my friend who were helping me. He said that it was what normal guys do.” Joanna shrugged, noticing a definite lack of calming down from the heiress, “It was really awkward to try and flirt with people. I've never been interested in anyone like that.”

“So what happened with Professor Ozpin, Joanna?” Pyrrha asked her suddenly, moving the subject before Weiss lashed out, “Did you get expelled?”

A collective gasp from her more energetic friends prompted her to answer.

“No, that's actually why I'm telling you guys this. Ozpin already knew I was a girl somehow. He also is letting me stay.” Joanna replied, grinning.

She was promptly hugged by Ruby, Yang, and Nora. She looked for help and saw the remaining four doing nothing to pry the three off of her.

“Please let go…” She gasped painfully.

She was released immediately and fell to the floor upon said release. She stared up at her friends and laughed happily, encouraging the others to join.

This was home now. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I had this one shot sitting in my stuff for a while and it's been some time since my last one (my genderbent Sun story for those curious), so I finished and posted this. My Jaune (Joanna) suffers from the feeling of being useless. She's the last of eight daughters and feels like she was a mistake that her parents didn't want. She wants to prove she can protect herself and fight for what she cares about. It's almost a desperate need to do so. That's why she did it. Hope you enjoyed the story. Bye!
> 
> ~LadyHikari


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